I stopped in the crosswalk a step or two in. The walk sign had come on, indicating that the left turn signal letting cars turn across 3 lanes of traffic onto the street I was crossing had turned red. One car had just passed when the light turned.
But I saw that the driver of an SUV was running the light, trying to make the turn before the oncoming traffic got going. Poor choice. The next few seconds unfolded just a few feet from me, but I was keenly aware that I was not in danger.
Though two lanes had stopped cars backed up, the curb lane was open, and a sedan was cruising along, entering the intersection with the green light. By the time the two drivers saw each other, their fate was sealed.
Honk, squeal, crash, roll, crash. In perhaps a couple of seconds the sedan hit the SUV in the side, about 15 feet from me, but momentum heading away from me. The SUV rolled on its top, momentum carrying it a car length or so forward as it rolled. The last crash was the SUV rolling onto the hood of a third car, that was merely sitting at the intersection waiting for the light to turn.
No one was hurt - or at least everyone was walking around - but three cars were demolished, the people in them had their evening plans changed all of a sudden - and rush hour traffic in the middle of Silver Spring was going to be snarled for a while, affecting no doubt hundreds more people.
I don't know why the SUV driver made the decision to turn. Perhaps he was distracted by a cell phone or one of the passengers. Perhaps he was impatient, and in choosing not to wait a minute or two for the light to change, caused himself and others several hours and many thousands of dollars of grief. And it could have been so much worse. Someone could have been in the cross walk and unable to get out of the way. Someone in one of the cars could have been killed or badly injured.
And all easily avoidable, with a little more patience, awareness, and a good choice.
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